By Mary O’KEEFE

On Monday, Oct. 26, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Dept.-Crescenta Valley Sheriff’s Station released a notice of the arrest of a 22-year-old man in regard to “inappropriate messages” being sent from the suspect to a student under the age of 18 who attended Crescenta Valley High School.

“An administrator at CVHS was contacted by a student who reported receiving inappropriate messages from an adult who worked on the school campus. School administrators notified the assigned SRO [student resource officer] who immediately initiated an investigation,” according to a statement released by the CV Sheriff’s. 

“During the investigation deputies identified a 22-year-old male who is not an employee of the school district but is employed by an outside agency that provides student aides to the school. The investigation determined that the suspect had sent an inappropriate message to the minor student.”

Deputies investigated and on Oct. 26 the 22-year-old suspect from Los Angeles was arrested for “annoying or molesting a child under 18 years old.” 

Glendale Unified School District superintendent Dr. Darneika Watson sent a message to CVHS parents on Oct. 26 that shared the information. 

“The individual has been removed from his assignment and will no longer be permitted to work at any GUSD school. This was the individual’s first assignment with our District; he had not previously been assigned to any other GUSD school,” stated GUSD.

The suspect was working as a teacher’s aide in special needs classrooms; however, the text messaging was sent to a student in the school’s general population. The parents who were directly involved in the issue were contacted by the District prior to the message from the sheriff’s department, according to a GUSD spokesperson. 

There was no physical contact between the student and the suspect, according to the District. The student reported the inappropriate text message to the administration shortly after receiving it. 

“Students are always encouraged to ‘say something’ if they ‘see something.’ Reports can be made directly to your school office, submitted online at  www.gusd.net/tipline or by calling the District’s phone tip line at (323) 999-6062. The tip line is monitored seven days a week. Tips can be submitted anonymously,” according to a GUSD spokesperson.

“We take seriously protecting our youth from those who would take advantage of them or potentially cause harm. Our SRO deputy promptly acted and our Detective Bureau is actively investigating this matter. I encourage parents to check with their children to ensure there are no additional victims and, if there is information learned regarding victimization, to contact our station immediately.  Thank you to the victim who had the courage to report this inappropriate conduct and the Glendale USD for [its] continued partnership in keeping the community we serve safe,” stated CV Station Capt. Ryan Vienna. 

In the course of the investigation it was determined that there were no additional victims of this suspect at Crescenta Valley High School and there is no threat to students at present. This incident remains an active investigation and no additional information is available for release at this time.

Anyone with information regarding this incident or who may have information regarding a similar incident at CVHS is encouraged to contact CV Sheriff’s Det. Ponce at (818) 236-4015.

This is the second time in recent history that a GUSD third party hire has been arrested after reports of abuse. In December 2025 an incident of assault was reported on GUSD school grounds. Glendale Police Dept. issued a statement in February, 2026 of the arrest, which was made on Dec. 20, 2025. The suspect, Joseph Sanchez, 25, of Glendale was charged on Feb. 3 with seven counts of assault on three separate victims and one count of possession of child pornography. In Sanchez’s case the alleged victims are students in special needs classes. Sanchez had worked at nine schools within GUSD. 

Sanchez was to appear in court on Tuesday; however, he did not appear due to “transportation” issues and his attorney had a scheduling issue. His next court date is scheduled for Nov. 18 in Pasadena Superior Court.